



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 25, '19s:

INVENTOR. :IMRLGS A. may

Arron/t) c. A. NEER 2,732,964

TAPE APPLICATOR INVENTOR. Cl/IRLES A. NEE

4 TTMIYEK United States Patent TAPE APPLICATOR Charles A. Neer, East Detroit, Mich. Application September 25, 1953, Serial No. 382,278

11 Claims. (Cl. 216-21) This invention relates to a tape dispenser or device adapted to support and store and dispense masking tape or other tape, such as Scotch tape.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a casing for supportably mounting a roll of tape, together with a simplified mechanism for dispensing the tape and for serving the dispensed portion as desired.

It is the further object of the present invention to provide a casing for storing tape together with means forming a part of' the casing to facilitate handling and the direct manual application of the tape, such as masking tape, to an article, by rolling the same thereover.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of the tape dispenser partially broken away and sectioned, for illustration.

Fig. 2 is a left end elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the dispenser taken from the opposite side of Fig. 1, also broken away for for illustration.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section taken on line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 4; and a Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of the rotary shear blade and its supporting shaft.

It will be understood that the above drawings illustrate merely a preferred embodiment of the invention, and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claims hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawings, the present dispenser, particularly adapted for the application of masking tape, includes a casing which consists of the upright centrally apertured plate 11, having the aperture thereof defined by the annular inwardly directed flange 12, upon which va roll of tape is suitably mounted. The plate 11 also has a second inwardly directed flange 13, substantially parallel to flange 12, at least throughout portions of the body, defining the enclosure of U-shape in cross-section as indicated in Figs. land 6, within which is stored the roll of tape 14.

Said roll has an outer lead off portion of tape 15, which extends downwardly within the casing, projects around the roller 24 and extends through a bottom opening in the casing for application to a surface, as indicated at 16. The casing also includes the additional outer wall formations 17, 18 and 19, preferably formed as an integral part of the plate 11 and having a width corresponding to the width of flanges 12 and 13.

The casing includes the fiat front end wall 20 which extends downwardly and outwardly, as in Fig. 1, and which cooperates with the slightly angular wall formation 21 at the lower portion of the casing, the lower end of which is spaced from the lower end of wall 20 defining an opening through which the roller 24 partially extends for application to the surface, upon which the tape is to be applied by a rearward rolling action.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, this forward and lower portion of the casing includes the formed parallel spaced side wall elements 22 and 23 between which the roller 24 is loosely positioned and to which said roller is loosely journaled by means of the transverse rivet of shaft 25.

A retaining spring 26, preferably of leaf form, is suitvably anchored within the casing as at 27, and projects outwardly therefrom and at its outer end is spaced from roller 24 at a point upon the outside of said casing, with the strip of tape 16 being interposed between said roller and spring.

A shearing lever 28 is pivotally mounted at 29 on the casing element 17 at one end of said lever, there being a suitable coiled spring interposed between the other end of said lever and the casing element 17 for normally maintaining said lever in the outermost position shown inFig. 1.

As illustrated in Fig. 4, the spring 30 is anchored at 10 to said lever and is retained with respect to housing element 17 by means of the post 9. Intermediate the ends of lever 28, there is pivotally joined thereto at 31 the outer end of operating arm 32, the inner end 33 of said arm being of slightly reduced dimension and having formed in is undersurface a rack gear 34.

Said rack gear and arm element 33 slidably extend below arm retaining bracket 35, a portion of which is secured to casing element 23 as at 36, said rack gear 34 being in mesh with the teeth of the idler pinion 37. Said pinion is journaled at 38 and mounted upon the outer surface of easing element 23 for rotation thereon with a portion of said pinion extending under the retaining bracket 35, as shown in Fig. 1.

Idler pinion 37 is in mesh with the teeth 39 of the gear segment, which is rotatably supported by the roller supporting shaft 25 upon the outer surface of casing element 23. Said gear segment has an arm 40 projecting therefrom, coplanar therewith and parallel to casing element 23, the outer portion of said arm having an inwardly directed rotary shear blade 41 with tapered sharpened edge 42, Fig. 7, adapted for cooperation with the fixed shear 43--46 for severing the tape element 16 from that portion thereof which has theretofore been applied to an article.

Thus, the above construction provides for a rotary ,reciprocating shear 41 under the manual operation of the user of the device through the shearing lever 28, rack gear 34, pinion 37 and the gear segment 39, which are intermeshed in the manner above described and as illustrated in Fig. 1.

The shear blade 41 has a leading sharpened edge 42, as illustrated in Fig. 4, which cooperatively engages the arcuate end 46 of the stationary shear blade 43, which is secured to the casing end plate 20 by the screws 44, end 46 having a spring action.

As illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the lower end of the flexible yet stationary shear blade 43, has a downward projection 47 upon one side of said blade which acts as a shearing pilot for initial cooperation with rotary shearing blade 4142 for initiating the transverse cutting of the tape 16 after which end further rotary movement of said blade the tape is further and completely severed by cooperation of the rotary blade 4142 with the lower sharpened edge of the curved portion 46 of blade 43. On completion of the shearing action, the rotary blade is automatically returned to the initial position shown in Fig. 1 by the action of spring 30 upon shearing lever 28.

A cover of substantially circular form 48 is provided [or the present casing and includes a pair of inwardly directed annular flanges 49, which cooperatively extend within the outer annular edges of the corresponding flanges l2 and 13 of the body plate 11, in the manner illustrated in Fig. 6 and whereby the coil of tape 14 is retained within the casing.

A braking device is provided upon the dispenser casing whereby the roll of tape 14 may be frictionally engaged in such a fashion that it will be retained against relative movement within said casing in order to place a tension uponthe masking tape where desired.

For this purpose, there is provided upon the internal flange 12, which defines the hand-hole for the casing, a pair of parallel spaced depending ears 50 and 51 which bridge a transverse rectangular recess 52 in said flange. Rotatable shaft 53 exends through said ears and is retained by the rivet portions 54 on said shaft.

An operating lever 55 with a handle 58 at its outer end is secured at its inner end to the shaft 53 whereby said shaft may be manually rotated. Secured to the shaft 53 as by the pin 57, is a suitable camming device 56, which is loosely movable within the slot 52 and is adapted for operative engagement with a portion of the rollof tape for applying friction thereto.

Having described my invention, reference should now be had to the claims which follow for determining the scope thereof.

I claim:

1. A tape applicator and dispenser comprising a hollow casing having a roller and tape receiving opening at its lower forward end, said casing being formed with an internal laterally directed annular flange for supportably receiving a roll of tape and defining a central transverse hand-hole for said casing, a roller journaled within said casing and projecting partially through said opening adapted to receive therearound and thereunder the free end of said tape whereby said tape is applied to an ob ject as said roller is drawn thereover, a stationary shear blade on the forward end of said casing in advance of said roller overlapping said opening, and a manually operated rotary shear blade journaled upon said casing coaxially of said rollerextending across said opening and adapted on rotary movement for cooperation with said stationary blade for severing the applied strip of tape.

2. The tape applicator of claim 1, and a shaft joined to said rotary blade in parallel spaced relation rotatably journaled through said casing adjacent said opening, said roller being journaled upon said shaft.

3. The tape applicator of claim 1, an arm projecting at right angles from one end of said rotary blade, and a shaft joined to the one end of said arm in parallel spaced relation to said blade journaled through said casing adjacent said opening, said roller being journaled upon said shaft.

4. The tape applicator of claim 3, a gear segment on the outer end ofsaid arm, an operating lever pivotally mounted on said casing, and a longitudinally reciprocal arm joined at one end to said lever and at its other end having a rack gear in driving relation to said gear segment, whereby reciprocal pivotal movements of said latter arm efiects corresponding reciprocal rotary movements of said rotary blade.

5. The tape applicator of claim 4, and an idler pinion journaled upon said casing intermeshing with said rack gear and said gear segment.

6. The tape applicator of claim 2, an operating lever pivotally mounted at one end upon said casing, a coiled spring interposed between the casing and the other end of said lever, a gear segment joined to' said rotary blade, a pinion journaled on said casing in mesh with said segment, and a longitudinally reciprocal arm joined at one end to said operating lever and at its other end having a rack gear in mesh with said pinion.

7. The tape applicator of claim 6, said gear segment, idler pinion, rack gear and arm being upon the outside of said casing, and a hold-down bracket on said casing overlying the rack gear end of said arm and a portion of said pinion for slidably receiving and retaining said arm and maintaining said rack gear in mesh with said pinion.

8. The tape applicator of claim 1, said casing having an exterior laterally directed arcuate flange concentric with said internal flange defining therebetween an annular chamber for receiving a roll of tape and an annular cover plate with inwardly directed concentric flanges positionable within said first concentric flanges providing a cover for said chamber.

9. The tape applicator of claim 1, and a leaf-spring secured at one end to and within said casing and with its other end projecting through said opening and bearing against the leading strip of tape for loosely maintaining the same against the surface of said roller.

10. The tape applicator of claim 1, and a substantially rectangular shear pilot projecting downwardly from the lower end of said stationary blade at one side thereof for initial engagement with said rotary shear blade to initiate the shearing of said tape.

11. The tape applicator of claim 1, said internal roll supporting flange having a transverse recess, a shaft rotatably mounted upon said internal flange on opposite sides of said recess, a cam secured to said shaft and movable through said recess for frictional retaining engagement with said roll of tape, and a brake lever with handle joined to said shaft and extending at right angles thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 14,276 McLauren Mar. 20, 1917 1,019,719 Maynes Mar. 5, 1912 1,026,446 Kennedy et al May 14, 1912 1,257,009 McLauren Feb. 19, 1918 1,371,677 Frederick Mar. 15, 1921 2,527,588 Sorenson Oct. 31, 1950 2,532,597 Bobrov et al Dec. 5, 1950 

